No Matter What
by The-epic-Lemon
Summary: A collaborative story made with my friend Kav. Takes place after chapter 87 of the manga. This is how we think it should end. Rated T for mild swearing and Violence.Hope you like it! REVIEW PLEASE
1. Saving Crona

Hey, so this is my first fanfiction and it was a partner story made with my friend Kav.

Takes place from chapter 87 of the manga and onwards. :)

I DON'T OWN SE OR THE CHARACTERS. OTL

Hope you enjoy!

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><p>Snow was starting to fall in the cold Moscow air as Maka, Soul, Kim, Jackie and Professor Stein raced to the location where Crona was last sighted. When they arrived, the sight that they encountered was one they had not expected; Crona was bent over the mangled body of her mother, Medusa.<p>

"Wh-what the hell happened here?" whispered a slightly disturbed Maka. The others just stared ahead, not too sure what to make of the situation.

"Did…did Crona do this?" asked Soul. The group stiffened at the question.

Suddenly, as if Crona could sense their presence, she stood up and slowly turned toward them. Her face was twisted into a horrifying smile and her eyes were just as wild. Without warning, she suddenly burst out into a fit of crazed laughter.

"The madness has consumed her," Stein whispered to the group. Crona's laughs quieted down some, but did not stop. She continued to giggle to herself.

"It was just a simple story….hehehe…really, a very simple story….hehehe…" giggled Crona.

"She's completely lost it..." Kim gripped Jackie's sleeve even harder. A silence suddenly went through the air.

"…A simple story indeed…hehe…A simple story…ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE… HAHAHAHA"

"Maka..." Soul looked at his partner. Maka was staring at Crona, the tears already welling in her eyes. Soul didn't like this. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that they weren't leaving here unscathed.

Maka's movements beside him broke his train of thought, as she took a step towards the still giggling Crona.

"MAKA!" Three pairs of hands reached out to hold her back. Maka stopped walking but was still staring at Crona, a cold fury in her eyes and tears running down her cheeks.

"C-Crona…what happened to you?" said Maka in as steady a voice as she could muster. Upon hearing her name, Crona turned her full attention to Maka, an evil, ungodly smile creeping its way onto her face.

"Oh. Hi, Maka…hehehe…isn't it amazing? I'm…hehehe…I'm…ahahaha…I'M FINALLY FREE FROM HER. HAHAHAHAHA" Crona screamed. Everyone else remained silent. Maka started to move again.

"Maka, don't! What if she attacks you? She's completely unstable right now!" Soul tried to warn. Maka wasn't listening, though. She continued to walk toward Crona. Soul tried to grab her to stop her, but she pushed his hand away.

"Stop it, Soul! She needs our help! I can't stand seeing her like this!" Maka snapped.

"Maka. we can't risk going near her right now. I know you want to help Crona, we all do, but if you get near her in the state she's in, she won't hesitate to kill you." Stein put a comforting hand on Maka's shoulder but she just shrugged it off, refusing to take her eyes off of Crona.

"Stay out of it, Professor. I don't want your opinion," Maka growled. SHe began to take more confident and determined steps. She was going to save Crona from the madness.

"Soul," Stein had come up beside him, watching Maka as she was approaching Crona, "go to Maka, stay by her side, be ready for anything. Kim, Jaqueline and I will back you two up." Soul nodded and rushed to walk behind Maka.

Crona had finally stopped her giggling and was watching as the two of them came towards her with a sort of interest.

"Maka, keep your guard up. I don't want anyone getting hurt," Soul warned. Maka looked at Soul and nodded in reply.

They looked back to where Crona was. She was no longer there. Alarmed, Soul immediately went to Maka and transformed into a scythe. Maka grabbed him and her eyes wildly searched around for any sign of Crona. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and quickly whirled around and guarded just as Crona brought Ragnarok down with extreme force.

"You should know better, Maka! You should know that at any moment I could harm him!" Crona yelled with an insane grin on her face and Ragnarok began to vibrate.

_Oh no,_ though Maka, _I almost forgot what happens when I guard against Ragnarok! _"Soul!" She yelled. However, she reacted too slowly, and blood began to spurt as she heard Soul cry out. "NO!" she cried.

Crona Raised the sword again for a second blow, when Maka kicked Crona away as hard as she possibly could. Crona fell from the force of the push and Maka jumped away from her quickly.

"Soul, are you alright?" she asked him without taking her eyes off the staggering Crona.

There was no response.

"Soul? Soul! ANSWER ME, SOUL!" she yelled in panic.

"…I…I'm fine…" Soul grunted. He coughed out more blood. "I'm fine, don't worry about me." He was panting heavily and blood kept dripping from the scythe. _This is getting bad, _He thought. _That was a nasty hit and I'm losing too much blood. I don't know how much longer I can hold up…_

Crona charged again, holding Ragnarok high into the air. Maka jumped out of the way just as she brought the demon sword down in the place where Maka was standing just a moment ago.

Crona straightened and started giggling again. She turned towards Maka slowly, Ragnarok hanging slackly in her hand.

"Ma...Ka... hehehehe oh Maaaakaaaaa... why won't you play with me Maka? Were FRIENDS aren't we? hehehe"

Maka's grip tightened on Soul as she ground her teeth together.

"Keep it together Maka. Your wavelengths are starting to go haywire, don't let the black blood go to your head!" Soul said as his mind swirled while he was straining to stay conscious.

"I'm fine. But, Soul, are you sure you can fight? I can sense you're started to waver…" Soul honestly didn't know. He knew he needed to stay strong and protect Maka no matter what, but he was getting dizzy. He had lost too much blood. "Soul, please stay with me, just a little longer! You can do it!" Maka begged.

"Makaaaaaaaa..." Maka's attention snapped back to the staggering Crona, "Makakakakakakakaa!" Crona's screech pierced Maka's ears as she watched her raise Ragnarok again and began to run toward where she was standing. Maka tried to jump out of the way again as Crona swung, missing her by just an inch, but whirled and her foot caught Maka on the side and set her flying. Soul was wrenched from her grip and he clattered on the ground a couple feet away from where she lay.

Maka sat up slowly just as Soul transformed out of his weapon form, and as he lay on his side, Maka could see the extent of the damage that was done. His entire left shoulder was covered in blood and the wound continued down his back all the way to his right hip. He appeared to have lost consciousness. She gritted her teeth as she looked at her partner's beaten and battered form. Soul's eyes slowly opened and they stared at each other and the space that separated them. Soul saw movement out of the corner of his eye and rolled onto his back and blocked with his blade just as Crona rushed at him.

"SOUL! MAKA!" Kim went to go rush to help them, Stein put his arm out in front of her to stop her from going to them.

"Wait Kim. Be patient. We'll help them if they really need it, but this...this is Maka's battle."

"But what about Soul? He's hurt!" Kim protested, but Stein held her back, and with a grumble, she stopped resisting and with great strain watched the rest of the fight.

The pain in Soul's shoulder was increasing the longer the fight went on. Crona raised her sword once more and slashed across Soul's left side. He cried out and he was sent rolling away.

Crona raised the sword to strike again but Stein had had enough. "Alright, Kim, Jaqueline, let's go."

The three began to sprint towards the demon sword and its wielder, Jackie automatically transforming into her lantern form and attaching herself to Kim's hand.

Soul had managed to struggle to his feet, but Crona had already prepared herself to deliver the final blow, and Stein knew he was going to be too late.

Time seemed to slow as Crona dragged the sword down toward Soul. Soul closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable amount of pain.

He heard the splat of metal meeting flesh…

…_Strange…I don't feel any new pain…_

Soul dared to crack an eye open, and immediately wished he hadn't.

In front of him, stood Maka, her arms spread wide in a protective manner her eyes closed, face twisted in pain with Ragnarok sticking out of her chest. A pool of blood had already begun to form around her feet. Stein and Kim had stopped running and were staring at the pair with horrified looks on their faces. Time stood still for Soul, all he could do was stare at his ash-blonde meister that had taken the blow for him. Crona had stopped too, her eyes wide as conflicting emotions ran across her face. It was then that Stein knew it, Maka had stopped the black blood.

"M-Ma…Maka…" a horrified Soul mumbled and he finally lost consciousness.

Crona stood staring at the pair; Maka still standing with the blade in her chest, Soul lying unconscious in the dirt. She let loose a terribly agonized scream. "WH-WHAT HAVE I DONE?" The tears freely poured down her face as Maka fell to her knees.

Stein immediately took action. He wouldn't lose any students today.

Crona was wailing by the time Stein got there, Maka had fallen onto her side and was panting heavily. He skidded through the dirt and went to her side.

"KIM! COME HERE NOW!" The frozen Kim finally jerked back into awareness and ran as fast as she could to where Maka was laying. It didn't look good, the blood pool kept growing larger and larger. "Kim, I need you to use your healing magic to close up the wound, Jackie, go tend to Soul." Kim nodded and Jackie transformed back to her human form and went to the unconscious boy. "Alright Kim, are you ready?" Stein gripped the sword still embedded in Maka's chest. "3, 2, 1 NOW!" He ripped the sword out with a squelching sound as Maka cried out and finally lost consciousness. Kim immediately went to work as Stein stood and walked over to the bawling Crona who was now curled up into a ball.

"Are you alright, Crona?" He asked her in a gentle tone, patting her on the head.

Crona sniffled and looked up at Stein through teary eyes, "what have I done? They're my friends…they trusted me…I turned my back on them…How could they ever forgive me? And what about Maka? I killed Maka!" She wailed.

"They don't blame you Crona, they blame the black blood. And you didn't kill Maka; Kim's healing her right now. Everything will be okay." Stein explained. He hoped to God that everything _would_ be okay.

He glanced over at Kim and Maka, a light was coming from the wound in her chest and Kim's brow was furrowed with concentration. Jackie was examining the cuts on Soul's body and using her own small amount of power to heal those as well. Crona sniffed again and Stein's attention turned back to her.

"Crona," the girl looked up at him, tears still running down her face and her cheeks red from anger, "Listen, this is very important. Did Medusa ever mention to you the whereabouts of the kishin Asura?"

Crona frowned and closed her eyes as she thought about it very hard. "I-I don't think.. I can't...w-w-wait she did say something about...about Asura."

"Crona, I need you to tell me what you know." Stein said it gently, but still firmly.

"Well, sh-she s-aid soothing a-about the…" she stopped and looked at Stein.

"The what, Crona, this is very important." Stein asked urgently. He began to hear Soul moaning as he regained consciousness.

"The-the Lost Island."

That got Stein's attention. "Are you sure, Crona? Absolutely positive?"

She simply nodded.

"Thank you, Crona." Stein turned away and went to check on Soul and Maka.

Many of the wounds that Soul received had been completely healed, yet the one on his shoulder was not healing as well as Stein and Jackie would have hoped. "How deep was that one on his shoulder, Jackie?" Stein asked.

"Well, I'm surprised he was able to move his arm at all, the wound was so deep, his arm should have just fallen off." that brought a heavy silence onto the pair.

The silence was quickly shattered when Maka began to cough. Stein quickly rushed over to inspect and noticed that Maka was completely healed.

Her eyelids began to flutter as she started to regain consciousness again. Although her wounds were completely healed, she continued to cough up the rest of the blood that was left in her throat and lungs. Eventually, her green eyes opened all the way.

"Pro-Professor Stein!" she rasped and began to cough some more.

"Shhh.. Maka, you'll be fine now. But, you should know better, that was extremely reckless. You could have died."Stein scolded.

"I'm sorry Professor... I'm really sorry, but I knew that if I didn't do anything, Soul…he…he would've..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the rest of that sentence.

"MAKA!" Soul was struggling to his feet and soon made his way over to them, clutching his still wounded shoulder, his eyes wild with worry. "Don't ever do that to me again, Maka. I was so worried! I thought I los-" He stopped himself before he said too much, his face growing red. "Er…anyways…are you alright?"

"Soul…" She looked at him and was just happy he was alive.

"Um…M-Ma…ka…?" Everyone turned to see Crona, cowering in a ball, looking as though she were on the verge of tears again. "I…I'm so sorry…" she sobbed.

Maka stood and walked over to Crona, knelt down and hugged her. "Are you okay, Crona?"

Crona simply returned the hug and began to bawl out a series of apologies.

"Shh…it's okay. I forgive you. You couldn't help it…It's alright…"

A small smile of pure adoration appeared on Crona's face as she hugged Maka. "Thank you, Maka, for being so nice to me."

Maka smiled at Crona then looked up at the professor. "So, what do we do now?" she asked him.

"Well, now we know Asura's location, so I say we go after him. Soul and Maka, are you both recovered?"

"Somewhat." Maka replied, Soul just simply nodded.

"Alright. Kim, Jaqueline and I will take Crona back to the DWMA and tell Lord Death about where Asura is. Maka, Soul, I want the two of you to go on ahead of us to the Lost Island. You'll be meeting Black Star and Kidd there as they were both already assigned to that area. You think you two can handle that?

Soul made a tch noise and Maka smirked at Stein, "Oh, we can handle it."


	2. The Death Room

Chapter 2!

So sorry for the long wait, but here it is!

Thanks for the reviews last chapter and hope you enjoy this one!

[SOUL EATER IS NOT MINE]

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!

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><p>*The Death Room*<p>

"Stein! Kim! Jackie! Whaaats up!" Lord Death was as enthusiastic as ever as the group made their way into the Death Room. Spirit was casually lounging against a wall in the corner and looked up as they all entered.

"Well, what's going on? Did you find Crona?" asked Spirit. Stein was unsure of whether or not he should tell Spirit about what happened with Maka and Soul. Raising unnecessary worry in his friend would serve no purpose, especially since the two were fine now.

"I-I'm right h-here Death Scythe sir..." Chrona stuttered from behind Stein, peeking over his shoulder to look and the red-headed weapon. She was uneasy being so close to Lord death... especially after all that she had done.

"Is she alright now? She seems fine." stated Lord Death.

"What about Maka and Soul, where are they?" asked Spirit. He was surprised to see that the two were not present. "Are they okay?"

Stein hesitated. _What the hell should I tell him? "Oh yeah, they were very close to death, Maka with a sword in her chest and Soul with his arm practically hanging on by a few threads and all…But they're fine now, don't worry about it!" _ "Um, yeah, about that, listen. Lord Death, we've uncovered the whereabouts of Asura." Stein attempted to change the subject. He succeeded because Lord Death perked up at the statement and Spirit moved from his spot on the wall to stand beside the great God, all thoughts about his daughter and her weapon partner momentarily forgotten.

"…And? Where is he?" Lord death asked.

"I-I know w-where he i-is s-sir…" offered Crona. Everyone turned their eyes to her, and she faltered under their gazes.

"And how do you know where he is?" asked Spirit, beating Lord Death to the question.

"My moth…ahem…Lady M-medusa told me…" said Crona. "…she told me where he was…"

"And? Where is he?" demanded Spirit.

Crona looked up with an almost shameful expression. Then, her expression changed, "The Lost Island, sir." She stated with such courage and clarity, that it surprised everyone present, for they had never heard Crona speak in such a manner.

A brief moment of astonished silence followed, Lord Death broke it by making a loud 'Hmmmmm' noise. "Interesting... very interesting. Alright, Stein, Spirit, what do you propose we do next?"

"Well, Stein still hasn't answered my question about Maka and Soul. Are they on their way to meet with the others, or did something happen while fighting Crona?" asked Spirit, ending with a dark tone in is voice, warning Stein that he better speak up.

Stein still didn't want Spirit to know about the risk Maka had taken in saving Soul from further harm and Crona from the madness, he decided that he wouldn't tell his friend because he would run straight to Maka's side and neglect his duties to Lord Death.

"Nothing happened Spirit," he said in a neutral voice, "after we uncovered the information about Asura, I sent both of them on ahead to the island to meet up with Black Star and Kidd's teams."

Spirit wasn't convinced, Crona had stiffened up noticeably when Maka's name was mentioned, Kim and Jackie averted their gazes and found the clouds on the walls to be the most interesting things at the moment, and Stein was speaking far too calmly about the situation. However, he knew that Stein wouldn't have sent the two of them on ahead if anything was still wrong with them. So instead, Spirit just narrowed his eyes at his former meister and nodded a simple okay.

"Well, this has gotten a little tense and awkward," stated Lord Death, "but I'm sure they're fine now and will probably meett up with the others soon."

"What do you suggest _we_ do now, Lord Death?" asked Kim and Jackie.

"Hmmmmm, well you all seem to be quite tired at the moment, so rest up and we'll talk later." replied Lord Death

"Yes, Sir." All of them went to leave the Death Room, however Stein was stopped by Lord Death, who wished to speak with him privately.

"Stein, we must set course for the island immediately. I won't have that Kishin alive and able to cause more distress any longer. I'm afraid I need you to leave with Marie as soon as possible. Catch up with all the kids and make sure they don't challenge Asura all on their own alright?"

"Understood, Lord Death." Stein wasn't too happy about the news, for he was rather exhausted himself, but he understood the importance of the orders he was given. If the kids were to take on Asura on their own, it's not guaranteed that they would defeat him. If they at least had a pair of older partners, then they would at least have a better chance.

By the time night had arrived and the moon was grinning it's bloody grin, the pair had left the city.

*Somewhere between Moscow and the Lost Island*

Soul and Maka braced themselves as another large wave hit the side of the small boat they were in. They had managed to bandage what remained of the wound on Soul's shoulder, and to be honest it must have been ugly. With it now tended, they had more important matters to deal with, now.

It seemed that the closer they got to the Island, the worse the weather seemed to get. It was freezing outside and they both shivered as another cold wave splashed against the side of the boat, some of the water sloshing over the edge and soaking their legs.

"This is not cool at all," sulked Soul, sniffling his runny nose from the cold.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Maka. Another large wave crashed into their boat, sending them staggering a bit.

"Just peachy," said Soul with a grunt. He was not looking forward to fighting this Kishin. "How are you holding up?"

Even though Maka's wound was healed, there was still a massive blood stain covering her torso. It was disturbing to Soul, because he knew that if Kim or Jackie wasn't there, she would have died. Maka seemed to notice his discomfort. "I'm fine, Soul. I promise. Soul simply nodded.

He thought over their battle with Crona, annoyed with himself yet again that he wasn't able to be of any defense to Maka and that she instead took the hit. His chest tightened at the memory of seeing Maka protecting him with the demon sword jutting out of her chest, it made his hand curl into a fist reflexively.

He was jerked out of his haze when yet another wave hit the boat and Maka took a sharp intake of breath. He looked at her and saw she was staring straight ahead, green eyes wide. He followed her gaze and heard his own intake of breath.

In front of them, was the island.


	3. Island Arrival

**Yaaay and we're back with Chapter 3!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**I don't own Soul Eater blah blah blah...**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**

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><p>*The Lost Island*<p>

For once in his life, Black Star was quiet as he and Tsubaki docked their small vessel onto the snowy shores of the Lost Island. With grim faces, they simultaneously looked up at the giant tornado-like whirlpool that dominated the centre of the island. The uneasy feeling resting within their stomachs had yet to disappear. Black Star would never admit it, but he was worried about the safety of his friends.

Fighting Crona while she was consumed by the madness was a very difficult task, even for Maka and Soul. He knew that they probably wouldn't leave unscathed, which meant that the battle against Ashura would only be more difficult for them.

"Black Star..." Tsubaki broke the tense silence. He glanced up at his tall raven-haired weapon, noting that her usually calm and serene expression was just as troubled as his was. "Do you have any idea how we are supposed to fight this thing?" she continued, finally looking down at her meister.

Black Star simply ground his teeth together in a small smile and punched her lightly in the arm.

"Don't be so worried Tsubaki, you've got a God on your side. This'll be no sweat for a big guy like me." he grinned at her fully now and she smiled back, some of the tense atmosphere dissipating. However, Tsubaki could see through his smile and reassuring words; this battle probably wouldn't end well.

At the base of the giant whirlpool were three figures, silhouetted by the afternoon sun. Kid looked at his two demon guns, flanked on either side of him and took in a deep breath. He took a step closer towards the whirlpool and turned to face the pair of them.

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><p>"This is where things get tricky," said Kid, quite grimly, "I can sense a kishin soul on this island. It feels a lot like Ashura, but I 'm not exactly sure where it's coming from. Keep your guard up, because who knows what might happen if we slip for even a second."<p>

Both of the girls nodded, Patty giving the air a good punch along with a war cry; Liz muttering something off to the side about creepy kishins and the creepy island. Kid cleared his throat and began speaking again.

"Are you both prepared for this? We don't know what will happen once we enter there, however I can promise you it will not be pleasant." Liz surprised him by snorting and Patty by giving a small giggle.

"Honestly Kid, have a little more faith in us, we can do this. We're ready." Liz gave him a determined smile.

"Yeah Kiddo! We got your back!" Patty sang in her carefree voice.

Despite the circumstances and the battle they were about to face, this brought a small smile to the young Reapers' face as he looked at his loyal weapons that he knew would be there for him no matter what.

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><p>Stein was trying his best to keep his balance on the small boat while helping Marie down from the dock. The large waves were crashing at the sides, soaking his feet as the small vessel rocked from side to side.<p>

"Just out of curiosity, how do you suppose we win against the kishin, Stein? Do you have some sort of plan?" asked Marie.

"I'm not even going to lie to you, Marie; this won't be easy. Ashura has always been dangerous. But he's even more dangerous now because he's gotten stronger. And as for a plan, I'm more of a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. Besides, Ashura never ceases to surprise us. Thus, a plan would be useless." replied Stein.

Marie nodded grimly at his statement. She then turned her body to face where the distant shadow of the island could be seen over the dreary waters. On instinct she reached over and gripped Steins' hand, squeezing hard. He returned her reassuring squeeze and turned to man the oars. He didn't know how this would end, all he had was his faith in the abilities of his students, and the trust in his partner.

This was going to be one interesting fight.

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><p>"Finally!" Soul sighed, completely exasperated as the boron of their boat finally dragged up onto shore. Maka huffed at him once before flinging her legs over the side and setting foot on the island.<p>

At first contact with the ground she got an awful, gut wrenching feeling in the pit of her stomach. Almost a premonition of the evil and madness she could feel radiating from the island's core. Soul walked up beside her, hands in his pockets as he studied the changing expressions on his meister's face.

"You alright, Maka?" asked Soul. He was nervous as well. In fact, nervous didn't even cover how he was feeling; he was absolutely _terrified_. He had a feeling, the worst feeling ever, that something would go wrong, that something would happen to Maka.

"I'm fine." she replied quickly. The general atmosphere around the island told her that Ashura was there.

Her eyes narrowed suddenly and she shifted her body to face a slightly different direction. " I can feel Asura's wavelength coming from over in that direction," she pointed to the massive whirlpool dominating the island, " I can also feel the souls of Kid, Liz and Patty over there too." she closed her eyes, furrowing her Brow as she tried to push her soul perception to cover a larger area.

"The Soul's of Black Star and Tsubaki are heading in the direction of Kids' team. I say we head over in that direction as well." she stated, turning to face her partner directly.

He was massaging his temples, his eyes closed and brows locked together in an intense look of pain. The madness coming from all over the island was making his head hurt.

"Soul." he heard Maka call softly. Opening his eyes he looked down to see one of her hands outstretched to him and a look of understanding in her eyes. "Resonate with me. And promise you will not let go or the madness will get to you."

He grasped her hand tightly, already feeling immensely better as her soothing anti-demon wavelength washed over his consciousness. Giving her one of his trademark grins and getting a small smile from her in return he said "I promise."

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><p>Kid, Liz and Patty were still standing in the same spot when the others arrived. He felt their soul's approaching them from behind as the two other teams lined up alongside them. No greetings were spoken amongst the friends as they all stared with determined eyes at the massive swirling air in front of them.<p>

"So," Black Star broke the silence, "what's the plan then?" More silence followed as they all realized they didn't really have a plan, it was more or less a fight to the death for them.

"Heh," a new voice rang in the air as the 3 teams turned to see Stein and Marie walking towards them, "glad were all on the same page then." Stein said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

The generally chipper Marie was solemn at his side as he puffed out a cloud of smoke.

Stein sighed, looking at the teams, "Kids, there is one plan and one plan only. Defeat the Kishin. Rely on your skills and training, as well as your instincts. Work as a team and we may be able to pull this off." he blew out another puff of smoke from his mouth.

The quiet Marie moved then and knelt down on her knees in front of the young weapons and meisters. "Before anything happens, I want you all to promise me one thing, alright?" she looked at them all very seriously. "Don't die."

However, before anybody could respond, the air making up the whirlpool suddenly exploded.

They were all thrown onto their backs by the force of the wind, scrambling to get to their feet as the air began to clear. The whirlpool had vanished, leaving behind no trace of the time slip they had previously experienced during their fight for brew with mosquito; in front of them lay only the ruins of what used to be the great temple. A sudden crazed laughter cut through the air and the weapons and meisters looked up to see the Kishin himself perched at the very top of the ruins. His grin and laughter was filled with the power of the madness as the students and teachers took their battle stances.

"Liz! Patty!" Kid called out for his weapons.

"O-okay!"

"Yeah!" they turned into their gun forms and fell into Kid's waiting hands.

"Tsubaki." Black star didn't take his eyes off the still grinning Asura as he reached out for his partner.

"Right." she immediately transformed into a chain scythe and Black Star caught her in midair.

Marie didn't even need to be asked by Stein to go into her hammer form. She was soon strapped to his hand as they readied themselves to face the Kishin.

"Maka..." Soul glanced at his partner who had not yet asked him to transform and saw that she was staring down Asura. The demon stopped it's mad giggling then and looked back at her, it's lips twisting into a ferocious expression.

"Grigori." Asura snarled at her. Her hand tightened on Soul's as her eyes narrowed to green slits.

"Now, Soul." the determination in her voice gave him confidence and he briefly grinned.

"You got it." his hand turned into a scythe handle and Maka spun him around in the air.

"Here we go."

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><p>Annnnnddddd this is where things get tricky.<p>

Bear with us while we power through this next chapter coming up. It's going to be awesome (hopefully... .)

Love! please review!

~Lemon and Kiwi


	4. Overflow

HOLA! Kiwi and Lemon here!

HOLY ELEVEN PAGES BATMAN. Wow, that took us forever to write. Writer's block can _reaaaaallllly _suck sometimes...but before we start, we just have a few announcements:

First we would like to apologize for COMPLETELY screwing up the location of Asura (who'd thought he'd be on the moon?) But I guess we can always count on Okubo for a good surprise.

ANYWAYS, secondly, we'd like to announce that Lemon will begin drawing out little important scenes from this story and posting them on her dA account. So check them out (when she draws them...heh...) (.com)

Also, we'd like to thank everyone who's been reading this story since it's BIRTH. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT. And if you don't like it, then you can f- (Lemon slaps a hand over Kiwi's mouth)

**REVIEW PLEASE! or we will take your soul! **

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

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><p>It had all happened so fast. Even though the battle lasted hours, it was blurred into a messy stream of events that seemed to quicken the pace of time.<p>

The battle began when Maka charged, armed with Soul, straight for Asura. The rest of the group had followed suit; everyone was ready for one kick-ass fight.

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><p>Black Star rounded on the side of the ruins, dashing up the incline as fast as he possibly could go.<p>

"Tsubaki! Enchanted Sword mode!" yelled Black Star.

"Right!" with a flash of light, she morphed into the dark blade in his hands. He jumped above Asura, holding the sword above his head.

"HAAAAAHHHH!" he gave out a battle cry as he brought it down with all the strength he could muster. However, instead of the slicing through flesh, he was met with one of Asura's many ribbons, hard as steel; the sword and the fabric rang together with a loud clang.

Maka took this as her chance to get in a good hit while Asura was distracted. She sprinted to Asura's left side and swung Soul as hard as she possibly could, aiming directly for his ribs. However, once again she was met with another of Asura's ribbons, which wrapped around the blade of the Death Scythe and yanked Soul from Maka's grip.

Soul clanged to the ground and changed back to his human form as Asura threw both Black Star and Maka into the nearby pillars. They crashed hard into the pillars and the soft spot on the back of Black Star's head cracked viciously against the stone. His vision began to haze as he fell to the ground.

"MAKA! BLACK STAR!" Soul and Tsubaki yelled together. Black Star swayed slightly before he fell face-first into the dirt, while Maka attempted to pick herself up off of the ground, her chest aching terribly. She had to have broken some ribs. She began to cough violently, and looking at her hands, noticed little spots of blood.

Tsubaki ran to Black Star and picked him off the ground and put his head in her lap. His eyes were half-lidded and blood was seeping through the wound on the back his head, staining the vibrant blue hair a dark red.

Soul skidded in the dirt and knelt beside his partner, throwing a hand protectively on her shoulder and noticing with concern the blood that was smudged across her mouth and chin. She didn't look at him, though, instead her gaze was fixed on the kishin as Kidd charged him next.  
>He ran and jumped into the air, pistols in hand as Beezelbub appeared beneath his feet. He began firing at the Kishin putting every ounce of his wavelength into those shots.<p>

"Patti, Liz! I need more power!" Kidd yelled.

"What? We're already using the Death Cannons! We don't have a stronger attack than that!" Liz cried in disbelief.

"...I have an idea…but it's really dangerous." Patti said quietly. Liz was beginning to catch on to what her sister was implying.

"PATTI, NO! ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Liz yelled.

"Both of you just shut up for a second and keep firing while I think of a plan!" Kid yelled over them both.

He couldn't say that he hadn't thought of using the madness. It was certainly in the air surrounding them, suffocating them until eventually someone would crack.

"Patti…" Kidd began, "are you sure you can pull this off and be strong enough to not let it consume you completely?"

"Kidd you can't be serious…" Liz whispered tragically.

"What do you suggest, then, Liz?" Kidd replied sharply. Liz set her jaw.

"If Patti's going to allow the madness to control her…" she began, "…then so will I."

Kidd sighed. "Well this is interesting; if you two lose yourself, I probably will too…" he laughed.

"Patty," Liz turned to look into her sister's large blue eyes, "on three okay?"

"Okay!"

Liz took a deep breath, "One."

"Two!" Patty took her sister's hand and stared down the swirling black embodiment of madness.

"...three." They stepped forward.

And the madness swirled around them, engulfing them completely. Kidd gasped and looked down at his weapons that were now using the power of the madness.

Maka jerked and her eyes flashed the bright green that only appeared when she used her soul perception. She tried to run forward but Soul grabbed her by both shoulders.

"What do you think you're doing!" he yelled in frustration, "you're too wounded an-" His sentence was cut of when he saw the look on her face. It was a mix of sheer horror and disbelief; eyes wide, face sweating with terror.

"What... the hell are they thinking?" her voice trembled as she watched the thickness of the madness loop around and lick the weapons as well as their meister.

Noticing that three of his students were now surrendering to the madness, Stein took this as his cue to enter the battle.

"Marie." He looked down at her.

"Right," She returned his gaze, a grin of determination across her face, "let's do this."

Stein held on tightly to Marie and ran past the frozen Kidd, still struggling with the sudden surge of madness and ran around behind Asura.

As he was running, Stein noticed the change in Kidd's facial features. He appeared more intimidating and frightening is his state of insanity. However, Stein was ripped from his observations by the insane laughter coming from the two weapons.

He gritted his teeth but temporarily tore his gaze away to look at the grinning Kishin, who was quite satisfied that his madness was taking effect upon the poor students.

Stein gave his first attempt everything he had. He gathered all of his strength and drove Marie down towards the kishin's head. He managed to land a hit before one of Asura's ribbons attacked him. Stein backed away as quickly as he could before being distracted by the deadly ribbons. He swiftly attacked again landing another hit in the Kishin's ribs.

Asura quickly recovered though and readied his missile attack towards Stein and fired.

Stein jumped out of the way as the missile crashed with a loud BOOM into the spot he had stood only moments ago. He rolled quickly back onto his feet, panting with exhaustion.

"Stein, what do we do now?" Marie's face appeared on her hammer surface as she looked at her partner.

"We keep going until we take this thing down." Stein replied, getting ready to run at him again.

"But we've barely even scratched him, and we already have two students injured, and three of them have gone insane," Marie replied, "this whole 'go-with-the-flow' idea isn't working to our advantage. We need a plan." She insisted.

"I don't know what else we can do other than just keep attacking him until-"

He was cut short by a massive blast that shook the entire island. Stein's eyes darted to Kidd, who now had two massive guns aimed directly at the Kishin.

"I will have order." Hissed Kidd.

Liz and Patty were giggling maniacally as light gathered at the tips of the guns again.  
>"Ready to fire!" Liz cackled.<p>

"3, 2, 1!" Patty laughed hysterically as another huge blast erupted from the weapons, shaking the stones that made up the ruins.

The pillar Black Star and Tsubaki were sitting under swayed and toppled on top of them, Tsubaki immediately covered her partner with her own body. The pillar slammed down on top of them, creating a large scrape down the side of Tsubaki's torso. Black Star was still too dizzy from his head wound to do anything and Tsubaki collapsed beside him, blood surfacing on her uniform from where the pillar had removed a few layers of her skin.

"Urgh…Soul," Maka grunted in pain, "this is getting out of hand. We need to intervene."

Soul opened his mouth to protest, but closed it immediately with a grunt. He knew she was right; things had gotten out of hand. He sighed.

"Resonate with me, Soul." Maka said.

Soul hesitated, but took her hand, and helped her stand.

"Stein! Kidd is losing it, we need to do something fast!" Marie yelled.

Stein grimaced and with one last glance at Asura turned and ran the opposite way towards the Death God's son and his twin pistols.

"Marie, I need you to use your healing wavelength to purge them from the madness!"

"Got it!" she transformed and sprinted towards Kidd. When she grabbed him however, he simply turned his guns on her and fired another shot.

"MARIE!" Stein grabbed her body in midair as she was thrown backwards, making them both crash into a nearby pillar. His back hit the concrete hard with a smacking sound and he slumped looking down at the woman in front of him. She was unconscious from taking a direct blow from Kidd's death cannon.

"Dammit!" he muttered, and tried to move but a sharp pain went through his whole spine and he slumped again. "I can't move." Suddenly, he felt a familiar change in the atmosphere and looked to his right to see Maka with Soul in weapon form. Both were glowing with soul resonance. "Urgh…come on you two…you can do it…"

"So," Asura drawled, "the next pair of little babies wants to take me on? How cute, Grigori."  
>"Fuck you, Asura! You're nothing but a worthless piece of shit." Yelled Maka. Her eyes were flaming with determination and hatred, to a point that it actually frightened Soul.<p>

"My, my, what a dirty mouth you have. I hope you don't kiss your precious weapon with that mouth." Asura grinned a sly, mischievous smile.

"…What?" Soul said dumbly.

"D-don't let the comment distract you, Soul," she said, her face now a nice tomato red, "he's just trying to throw us off."

"Oh, would you look at this. Now you're blushing! My, my, Grigori, how very interesting. Hmmm...I wonder what you would do if I were to kill your precious weapon before your very eyes. " His grin grew wider and more malicious. Maka snarled and readied Soul for an attack.

"I think it's time you shut up now." she charged him head on, leaping into the air. "Genie Hunter!" she cried and the scythe exploded in a burst of light and suddenly became a massive blade of energy.

"Ohhh, fancy technique," Asura wasn't fazed by the size of the scythe at all and stopped it with one hand as Maka brought it down. "Too bad, it's still not strong enough to kill me." He wrenched Soul out of her grasp and one of his ribbons punched her on the side of her face, sending her crashing to the ground below. When she shook her head clear of the pain, she looked up in a panic to see Soul now in human form still in Asura's grasp.

"D-damn you…" growled Soul, dangling while one of Asura's ribbons was wrapped around his neck. "Ma-ka…" he coughed. Asura brought Soul closer so he could stare at him face to face. He tightened his grip around Soul's neck.

"You two are becoming quite the nuisance. Maybe I'll just get you out of the way right now-" but he was cut off by another blast from Kidd, who fired straight at the ribbon holding Soul. Soul fell to the ground and gasped for air, greedily filling his lungs.

"Oh no you don't…" said Asura, his face changed to a deadly expression.

Suddenly two of Asura's ribbons fired in different directions; one pinning Soul to the ground through his left shoulder, as the other struck through Kidd's left side.

Kidd gasped with the sudden impact and felt a horrible pain from the large gash that now covered half of his side. Being linked as they were, Liz and Patty felt a slight twinge from Kidd's pain, it wasn't much, but it was enough to push them back into their sane selves.

"Kidd!" they both shouted in unison.

"Now..." Asura opened his mouth wide, "Die." His red beam shot from his mouth and in a split second both Liz and Patty transformed and covered their injured meister.

"NO!" Maka screamed and watched as the blast subsided. The three of them all lay on the ground in a small hole, Kidd bleeding heavily, Liz and Patty scratched, dirty, bruised and unmoving.

A loud gasp of pain brought her attention back to Asura, as he held her weapon up by his neck again.

"SOUL!" she cried. The wound in his shoulder was bleeding heavily as his consciousness began to sway. The pain that shot through his body was excruciating, yet he would not allow this vile creature to even lay another finger on his meister.

"You…bastard…" Soul growled through gritted teeth. He transformed both of his arms into scythe blades and sliced the ribbon holding him up. He crumpled to the ground a second time, but got to his feet and immediately ran towards Asura, ignoring the seering pain in his shoulder.

Asura sneered at him. "Hmph. Your mistake." He opened his mouth again and and shot one of his missiles, catching the white haired boy in the stomach and sending him flying backwards.

"SOOOULLL!" Maka cried as he was sent plummeting towards the earth. He hit the ground hard and the missile exploded. He was barely conscious after the blast cleared, his entire body burning in agony. Through the ringing in his ears, he heard Maka crying out for him and the sound of pounding feet before they skidded to a stop, his head being lifted by small, gentle hands. Her green eyes were full of terror as she looked at him and he wanted nothing more than to reach out to her and tell her he was alright, that everything was going to be fine.

But, he couldn't; he'd be lying.

"It's just you and me now Grigori." Asura smiled again, and the next thing Soul knew was that the monster had one of his pieces of fabric wrapped around Maka's neck and she was yanked away from him screaming.

Stein rolled over onto his side and reached out a hand to grab her but she was already out of his grasp. Marie remained unconscious at his side.

"Shit..." Black Star moaned, looking at his companion that was slowly being brought closer to the one person that wanted her life to end more than anything.  
>Tsubaki was trying to get her hands underneath her to push herself up and go help Maka but a pain shot through her side and she collapsed again.<p>

"No..." she whispered, feeling the faint sting of tears around her eyes.

Liz and Patty just stared at the girl, dangling in front of the kishin, wanting to move, but are unable to even lift a finger. They were too weak. Kidd was the same, he had moved and was now slumping against one of the many pillars that were scattered among the ruins, clutching the large gash that covered the majority of his side. Hatred was palpable in his eyes as he glared at Asura's victoriously grinning face.

And Soul, Soul was panicking. Lying on his side now, he watched with absolute terror as his meister clawed at the fabric covering her neck, choking off her air supply. He willed his body to move with all his might, but all he succeeded in was outstretching a hand in her direction. He could do nothing; and that fear, the fear of being useless and unable to protect his meister, was the worst thing he had ever known.

"Ma...ka..." he managed to struggle out.

Maka desperately tried to peel the dirty fabrics off of her neck, her hands slipping as it became harder and harder to breathe. Her motions became less frantic as the dizziness kicked in, black fringing on her vision of the slowly approaching Kishin.

Asura laughed softly at her feeble attempts to free herself and his face settled into a grin as she was brought right in front of him. Dark red burned into veridian and the grip around Maka's neck loosened slightly.

"I can't have you passing out on me now can I? I want to see your face as you die." Asura's smug smile never left his face and he let his madness wavelength flow towards her.

Maka could feel it in the air she breathed. It pulsed and consumed everything, like a black tide, washing over all her senses. But... wait. Something was off about it.  
>It was different than before. Yes, she felt the madness, she felt the horrible sensation of evil all over, but she couldn't feel the hold it normally had over her.<br>When she realized what was happening, her eyes widened suddenly with understanding. She had grasped something. Something very odd, something that gave her a small feeling of hope.

She could feel Asura's madness wavelength all around her, trying to absorb all sanity and light, she however, still remained untouched by it. She could see a faint light that glowed around her through her soul perception abilities. She gave a small gasp as she realized that she, herself, was purifying all of the madness. It was then that Maka understood what she needed to do. Now, if only she could get closer to him...

"You..." his voice snapped her out of her revelations and she glared at him wholeheartedly, " I guess you weren't strong enough huh. Not enough to defeat me that is." he grinned again, showing all of his teeth, "They were all so confident in you, you and your little Grigori soul and Anti-demon wavelength. Heh. They couldn't have been more wrong." he was gloating, basking in what he thought was his victory.

"...No." her voice was strong even though her body still dangled like a doll's in front of him. "They weren't wrong. I will kill you. Even if it means I have to die myself!" her eyes flashed as she kicked one of her legs around the fabric suspending her in the air and spun until it ripped. She landed lightly on her feet as the strips that were around her neck fell down in front of her.

Asura growled in frustration as the others who were scattered around severely injured perked up at this new turn of events. Maka looked fierce, everyone was impressed at her courage.

Her soul, flared with the newly found determination and hope. It surrounded the entire area she was standing on and more. It was so large and bright that you didn't have to have Soul Perception to see it. The others gaped at her and Marie eyes fluttered at the change in the air. She groaned and rolled her head to the side, opening her one golden eye and taking in the sight before her.

"Maka..." she whispered in amazement.

Asura also saw how large Maka's soul had grown; he hissed at it's purity and knew that she had to die. SOON.

"This isn't over until I say it is bastard." Maka's voice was confident as she stared down the monster opposite to her. He laughed and her eyes narrowed, seeing how he let his madness unfurl from him in curling tendrils that snaked around his body.

"Oh we'll see about that."

* * *

><p>The ground shook and soon the area where the two were standing became a platform, higher than the ground where everybody else was lying.<p>

They had all managed to pull themselves into half-upright crouches as they watched the ground suddenly spring up and carry Maka with it. All of them looked on with grim faces and twinges of fear in their hearts, but also with faith in the girl whose soul could take on anything.

Maka ran at Asura, dodging several of the projectiles he shot at her. She jumped and prepared to kick him but was flicked away by one of his remaining ribbons. She skidded several feet before rolling and stopping herself in a crouch. She let out a frustrated snarl and charged him again, going around from the side this time, however the results were the same.

'Dammit. I need to calm down.' she tried to level out her breathing. 'Okay' she thought, 'All I need to do is get close to him. I just need to be able to reach him and then this is all over. But...how do I do that...? Shit.'

She narrowly missed another missile that was aimed at her and somersaulted, landing on her feet again.

"You can't win, Grigori. You're not strong enough!" Asura taunted her, the smile never leaving his face. She ground her teeth together.

"SHUT UP! You don't know anything about me!" she retorted angrily.

"Why, I think I know enough. Enough to understand that you're just a scared little girl. And no matter what you think, Grigori," he smirked, "that's what you'll always be." Everything went silent for a moment as his words rang through the air.

"...ka." she mumbled, her bangs hiding her expression.

"Hmm..? What was that?"

"Maka." she said louder this time, lifting her head to show green eyes that were unaffected by his words. Not afraid by what he had said. "My name is Maka. Not 'Grigori' asshole."

He laughed. "And why would I care what your name is?"

"You might as well know it." she surprised everyone by suddenly smirking, determination seeping from every pore in her body. "Considering I'm the one whose gonna be taking your soul."

Asura gaped at this girl. Who did she think she was? She was nothing! Just a girl with a pretty soul and a rare wavelength. He was the Kishin. He was much more powerful than her weak human body. So then why was it that he felt... Afraid.  
>"Kishin Asura. Your crimes against Lord Death as well as the people of the world cannot go unpunished." she called out to him, fists clenching at her sides, eyes narrowing down to slits.<p>

"Your soul is mine."

He felt the fear creeping into his consciousness as he stared at this girl, whose soul flared to points of being extreme. It was larger than any soul he'd ever seen before, aside from that of Lord Death. No human had ever, in all his years, possessed a soul as powerful as hers was.

Her friends down below were equally amazed at this sight. Maka confidently telling the Kishin she was going to destroy him and then watching her soul grow to become enormous.

"Amazing..." Kidd whispered. Liz and Patty nodded beside him.  
>Tsubaki was speechless as she looked at her friend that she had known for so long.<p>

"Just... Like... A god..." Black Star was stuttering as his vision became blurry from the light Maka was projecting.

"Incredible. She's not scared at all..." Stein was in awe at the power of his student. Marie just stared at her, tears of pride welling in the corner of her eye.

And, to Soul, she truly looked like an angel. Her hair that had long since fallen out of its pigtails, was lifted around her. Her eyes a brighter green than he had ever seen before and...She glowed. Power radiated from every cell in her body. She had never looked more fierce, more powerful, or more…beautiful.

"Maka..." her name floated off of his lips as he gazed with complete pride at his one and only meister.

Suddenly, She charged Asura, giving out a battle cry.

"NO. NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed at her and made the ground shoot up in pillars to try and block her path. She dodged them and just continued running at full speed towards him. He stared wide eyed as she finally came in front of him, he looked directly into her eyes, that bright green being the last color he would ever see.

"It's over."

With that, Maka thrust both of her hands into his abdomen and a light exploded on the impact. Asura eas still looking at her as he said his final words.

"It... Can't... Be..." he whispered, then the light grew as he was obliterated into nothing, purified by the soul of Maka. It poured out of her and the rush of air from it threw everybody onto their backs again. They all began to feel no pain from their injuries as the pure light washed over them. It blew all the snow that had settled onto the island into a flurry of white to accompany the light that was Maka. Her companions shielded their eyes as they tried to get any glimpse of her as it subsided.

Maka felt the strength drain from her body. She had put all of her soul into that attack, and knew it was too much for her body to handle. She slumped to her knees as the light slowly left her. The ground she knelt upon, that was high above everything else, trembled underneath her. Asura's powers were no longer there to keep it up, and it started to crumble around her.

The others saw this too and they all cried out for her, trying to get to their feet. Soul was the quickest and he rushed toward her as fast as he could. But, it was too late.

"MAKA!" she heard his voice call before the rock supporting her was gone and she fell. The debris was all around her and she landed on something sharp. The last noise she heard was that of metal meeting flesh, and horrible agonizing pain flashed through her body before everything faded to black.

* * *

><p><strong>SAD PLOT-TWIST IS SAD<strong>

Oh man. the number of days that went into creating this. Next chapter is going to be just as juicy as this one, only it's going to have some melted CHEESE on top. Love you guys!

**REVIEW PLEASE**

3 LEMON AND KIWI 3


	5. Lay Me Down

HEYYYYY

CHAPTA FIVE!

And we totally lied. Cheesy chapter's the next chapter. Sorry.

Anyways, this has prevent Lemon from sleeping for the past few days, causing her days at work to be freaking AWESOME.

Anywho, Kiwi and Lemon present you with the amazingly depressing Chapta 5. We hope you enjoy it.

**REVIEW OR WE'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL 3 **

* * *

><p>*The Death Room*<p>

Lord Death blinked. The presence was... Gone, in an instant. All the madness... Vanished.

"All... Gone..." He said aloud. Spirit's attention snapped immediately to him.

"What is it..? Lord Death? What's wrong?" Lord Death looked at Spirit before clapping his hands together with glee.

"They did it! Asura's soul is no longer existent!" The tense air that had been held in the room for a long time instantly evaporated and Spirit grinned.

"Thank goodness."

The Island was destroyed. Stones upon stones piled as high as the eye could see. Dust was still floating in the air from the sudden collapse of the Ruins as eight figures staggered through the rubble.

"MAKA! MAKA CAN YOU HEAR ME? MAKAA!" they called.

Soul was worried out of his mind. He saw her fall from the platform as it had crumbled, they all had. They'd been searching for a while now but still found no sign of her.

"Alright," Stein spoke and the panicked group of searchers turned to face him, "let's all split up, we'll cover more ground looking for her that way. If you find her or anything that will give us a clue to her whereabouts, shout out."

They all nodded and went their separate ways.

Tsubaki climbed one of the taller piles of scattered stones, nearly falling down as one of her feet slipped from the crumbling rocks. She let out a little squeak but caught and righted herself before continuing upward. When she reached the top, she stood all the way up before scanning her surroundings. That was when she looked down.

A shrill , agonized scream broke the thick air of tension and panic as seven heads whipped around to see Tsubaki slump to her knees, her scream cut off by a gurgling sound.

They ran as fast as they could, scrambling awkwardly up the sharp rocks. Black Star reaching Tsubaki first, Stein and Kidd not far behind. Liz, Marie and Patty were having trouble trying not to slip on the rocks as Soul brought up the rear.

"Tsubaki! What's wrong? What is it?" Black Star panted as he skidded to a halt, looking down at his partner. Tsubaki said nothing, she just continued staring as tears streamed down her face, indigo eyes completely horrified at what they were seeing. Black Star followed her gaze and soon let out a gasp before sitting down as well, legs no longer able to support him.

"It... Can't.. Be..." he whispered.

Stein, Kidd and Marie got there next, and very abruptly became aware of the situation. Marie immediately burst out into tears and choked sobs as Stein moved to put his arm around her, face set grimly. Kidd could feel his entire body go numb and his hands began to shake as breathing suddenly became harder. Once Liz and Patty arrived and saw the horrifying image before them, they both fell on each other as tears rolled freely from their identical blue eyes.

And finally, there was Soul. He was terrified. By watching everyones reactions to what they were seeing, he had already guessed what it was. However, he still took those final steps forward to peer over the edge at what had broken down all of the strongest and toughest of the D.W.M.A. He had to see it for himself, no matter how much it would hurt. Taking a deep breath, he looked down. And felt his heart stop.

Her hair was a halo of pale gold spread around her head, lightly caked with the dust from the ruins. Her eyes were closed and her expression was peaceful as she lay there. Her limbs were splayed at awkward angles, but were otherwise unbroken; Spartoi uniform shredded in some places but still intact. However, Soul didn't notice any of those things. All he could see was red. The red that had spread around her in a pool that was impossibly large. The red that covered her body, stiffened the ends of her hair and smudged her face. And the two pillars that were full of red; small rivers of it coursing down them in tides, dripping onto the body below. It was those pillars that stuck out of her chest and her stomach that made Soul scream in rage, horror, agony and fear.

"NO!" He cried out as he leapt off of the ledge, ignoring every little cry of agony his body gave him. He had to get to her. She couldn't be dead. It wasn't supposed to end like this.

He ran as fast as he could, stopping before her and crumbling to his knees.

"M-Maka…" he whispered painfully. He grabbed her bridal style and lifted her off of the two pillars that she had landed on. Jerking out of unconsciousness, she let forth a shrill scream of agony.

It tore Soul to pieces. The pain he felt due to all of the wounds he received during the battle, they were nothing compared to the pain he felt now, holding her bleeding and dying body in his arms.

She coughed up blood and opened her eyes to look at him.

"S-Soul…" she managed to croak out.

"No no no no no no…c'mon Maka, stay with me!" He was panicking. _'I can't lose her. No, please don't take her from me.'_

"Soul, I-I'm so s-sorry…" her voice was breaking as hot tears ran down her face.

"No Maka, I'm so sorry. I should have b-been th-there…" he whispered.

She felt him shake.

"N-no, S-Soul…I'm sorry…I d-don't think I-I'll make it this time…" she said with a sad smile on her face.

"C'mon Maka, don't leave me…I can't live without you…I won't! Maka I love you…"

That's when she saw it. The stream of tears leading from his eyes. For the first time in her life, she finally saw him cry. And it was right then, staring him in his tear-filled and heart-broken eyes, that Maka died.

He watched as her pained-filled green eyes slowly became half lidded and the light that made them so beautiful vanished. She went completely limp in his arms, head rolling backwards, long blonde hair streaming down to towards the ground. His body went numb.

The others had run down from the ledge by now and he could hear Tsubaki sobbing, Marie wailing while Liz and Patty were quietly grieving. The boys were all silent, disbelief and sadness filling their souls.

But Soul felt nothing. He felt as though he were floating, like none of this was actually real. He just stared, tearful wide eyes looking down into his partners face.

Tsubaki ran around to the other side of Maka, so she was facing Soul, and stopped in her tracks. Soul looked up and their eyes met. She had never seen him like this before, eye's completely agonized. It was then that Tsubaki realized how much Soul actually loved Maka. He _loved_ her. After a moment, he broke the staring match between them and curled around his meister's body.

"Maka..." his voice was broken as he held her to his chest; his mourning was stopped abruptly however, as a glowing light shone from Maka's chest. He held her slightly away from him as her pure blue soul emerged from her body. It's glowing wings fluttered as it floated away from the lifeless girl beneath.

Marie cried out in agony and fell to her knees, clutching Stein's sleeve as they watched the scene unfold. His face gave away nothing, but his eye's were full of remorse and sadness behind the scratched and chipped glasses. Tsubaki broke down again and slumped to the ground as well, hands covering her face as the tears that refused to stop continued streaming down, flowing between her fingertips. Liz had her hands covering her mouth, eyes disbelieving as she shook her head back and forth vigorously, Patty clutching her elbow. Her generally happy expression was long gone and water leaked out of her eyes.

Black Star looked away, he couldn't watch. He'd grown up with the girl. Sure, sometimes she had gotten on his nerves, but he had adored her like a little sister. She was supposed to be there when he finally surpassed God, clapping and cheering him on with that special smile of hers. He just couldn't bring himself to believe that she was...gone. Closing his eyes tightly, he willed himself not to cry and show weakness.

"No..." he whispered.

Soul's eyes were now hidden behind his bangs, as he gently lowered her to the ground and stood. He moved past Tsubaki and just continued walking, not really having a destination in mind. He just wanted to get away from this situation. She was alive, just somewhere else, he reassured himself.

'_She is dead, you know…'_ said a little voice in his mind, which had been quite silent for the last little while.

'…_and it's all your fault...' _

Soul couldn't argue that one anymore. It really was his fault that his meister was dead.

'…_and her soul no longer protects you from me.'_

Soul stopped walking. It was then he realized that his eyes had been closed while he listen to the Little Demon taunt him.

"Just do what you want…I don't care anymore." He said carelessly.

The Little Demon cackled evilly. '_If you say so, boy._'

"Just don't make me hurt anyone else…"

He looked back briefly to see that Tsubaki now had Maka's body and was holding it to herself in a crushing embrace. Kid had his hands clenched into fists and his jaw was taut, Black Star wasn't looking at anything, eyes merely closed in pain. The remaining people standing in the group all stared at Maka's soul, still fluttering it's little blue wings. Nobody dared to touch it. Soul blinked back more tears before turning away again.

"I don't want...to hurt anybody...anymore…" he whispered before feeling his consciousness being pulled into the Black Room.

It was destroyed; broken records littered the floor, its checkered pattern cracked all over, the curtains ripped down, and even his normally neat pinstriped suit was torn in many places. All of these things mimicking the way his soul felt right now.

Broken.

He heard a cackle coming from behind him and turned to see the Little Demon sitting on the toppled over armchair, grinning massively.

'_It's time, Soul._' The Demon said as he reached his hand out.

Soul stared at the offered hand and took it after only a moment's hesitation.

Stein could feel a change in the air. He was confused for only a brief moment before he realized what was happening.

"He's giving up…" he said quietly, as everyone quieted their sobs and looked toward the speaking man.

"What are you talking about?" asked Black Star.

"Soul…he's not fighting the madness anymore…not even a little bit…" he said, appalled, as everyone turned their heads to look at the completely still demon scythe a few feet away from them, "…he's completely submissive."

"What? What's going to happen to him?" said Kidd.

"I'm not sure…" Stein mumbled, "but it can't be good news."

Soul felt the silky, black arms crawl their way across his body. He was floating, but he didn't know where he was. He relaxed in this quiet space. He liked it here. It was peaceful and there was nothing that could turn his mood sour.

He remembered that only moments ago, he had felt incredibly sad; he just couldn't remember the reason why.

_Maka._

That name. It ripped at his chest with painful, burning claws, yet he didn't know why. Who was Maka? Why did that name hurt him so much?

Soul opened his eyes, only to discover that those silky, black arms had crawled across his eyes, preventing him from seeing anything. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but the arms persisted in covering his mouth as well. He tried to bring his hands up to his face, when once again, the arms prevented him from doing so. He suddenly began to feel uncomfortable here. It felt as though he were no longer in control of his own body.

And the arms continued to snake their way across his body…across his chest, his arms, his face, his legs, and places he did not want anyone to touch at the moment…

Where was he? Why was he here? Why can't he move?

All these questions flew through his panicked mind before it settled on one thought:

_I don't want to be here right now._

The demented and snarling Soul sent another wave of sound flying at the group with his keyboard blade. He struck nameless notes and they hit they already injured meisters and weapons with full force.

Tsubaki shielded Maka's body from another blow before turning to look at the madness-consumed boy.

"Soul! Stop this! This isn't you! Maka wouldn't want-unngghhh!" she braced herself as another wave hit them, throwing Liz and Patty onto their backs.

"What do we do?" Liz cried. She couldn't handle all of this right now; she already lost a friend and now another one was being taken away from her, too.

Stein grabbed Marie and brought her close so he could hammer (hahaha pun intended) out a plan.

"We need someone strong to go hold him down while you use your healing wavelength to help him gain control over his sanity again!" Stein yelled above the clashing notes and sound waves.

"But who is strong enough to get close enough and then actually be able to hold him down? The students are too weak!" she insisted.

"Black Star and I are probably more than capable of getting close enough to him. It should be simple enough to get him down using our soul wavelengths." He explained.

"Fuck, I hope you know what you're doing." Marie growled. "Don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Even at such a grim time, Stein laughed. "I promise."

"Black Star!" Stein called. "I need you."

Black Star threw his arm over his face as another flurry of notes bombarded them before looking at the professor.

"What do you need me to do?" he shouted back.

"Were gonna hold Soul down using our wavelengths so Marie can pull him back!"

"And how the hell do we even get close to him!"

Stein gave a short laugh before grinning, his smile though, held no real amusement. "We hit him straight on."

Simultaneously, they ran forward, ignoring the others' cries of protest. Stein dodged another wave sent from the keyboard and reached the mad albino first. His eyes glinted as he brought both his hands into Soul's stomach. "Soul force." He shot his wavelength, which sent Soul flying onto his back before Black Star leaped above his head.

"Black Star Big Wave!" he brought his elbow down onto the already weak spot on Soul's stomach, holding him in place. Stein whipped his head around and shouted for his partner.

"Now Marie!" hearing her cue, she sprinted forward, hands already glowing with the soothing wavelength and as she set them upon the struggling boy's forehead.

"Heal…" she murmured.

His lifeless eyes snapped open and glowed a bright red, as he arched his spine and threw his head back.

Stein placed a hand on Soul's chest and took a look at his soul. What he saw shocked him. He noticed that his soul was almost completely wrapped in black strands of what Stein assumed to be Black Blood. This wasn't good.

'_I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't like it here. Let go…let go…let go of me…'_

The arms continued to wrap themselves around his body as he tried to struggle against them.

He tried to scream, to rip these arms off of him, but he couldn't.

"_Your attempts of regaining control are futile, boy._" the Little Demon sneered.

'_Stop it! I said not to hurt anyone else! I don't want to be here anymore! Why can't I move? MOVE, DAMNIT!' _he thought.

Then suddenly, a bright light appeared, causing the arms that were so tightly wrapped around him to screech and burn away. He opened his eyes and stared at the light. He didn't want to be in here anymore. He wanted to be where it was light and warm, not where it was dark and cold.

He reached up to go toward the light, when he felt something wrap around his other wrist. He looked down to see the Little Demon with a murderous expression on its ugly face.

"_You won't get away so easily anymore, you stupid child."_ He growled.

"_I don't care what you say anymore, you bastard. I'm leaving."_ Soul snapped right back at him as he ripped himself free from the Little Demon's grasp and swam towards the warm light.

He could feel the darkness on his heels as he swam upwards, licking and lapping at his feet. It just motivated him to move faster. He looked at the approaching light, feeling its warmth begin to embrace him.

_Soul..._

He heard voice.

_Come back, Soul. You don't belong here._

He blinked in disbelief.

"M-Maka?"

_Soul…_

Soul.

"SOUL!" Marie shouted and the boy blinked his red eyes, gasping loudly while focusing his attention on the three people standing above him as he lay on the ground.

"Thank God you're back!" said Marie while she took him into a bone-crushing hug. He winced as he was reminded of his wounded shoulder, but noticed that his forearms were raw and bloody. He stared at them, confused.

"There came a time when you were using you piano sickle so much, your arms began to bleed." Stein explained.

And then Soul remembered everything.

_Maka._

His eyes grew sad again as he tried to get up. Every inch of his body cried in protest, but he had to stand.

"Don't overdo it, man" Black Star finally spoke up.

Soul barely spared him a glance before grunting painfully as he sat up.

Black Star knelt down in front of him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I said DON'T overdo it, you moron."

Soul didn't pay attention to him; instead his crimson gaze was focused on the group of weapons as well as Kid, who were surrounding the body of his meister. The pain in his chest came back again, ripping at his heart, even stronger than before. He could hear the whispers of the Little Demon calling him again but pushed them aside as his eyes soon settled on the still fluttering soul that no one had touched yet.

He shrugged Black Star's hand off his shoulder before shifting to his knees and, ignoring the agonizing stabs of pain once again, stood on his feet. Slowly, he walked over to the little blue soul, not taking his eyes off of it for a second. He slowly reached out for it, taking it softly in his large bloody hands.

He stared at it for a moment before gently tucking it into the inner pocket of his torn, bloody jacket. Swiveling on his heel, he walked over to Maka's body, ignoring the stares he could feel on him.

Kneeling down, he slipped one hand under her legs and another just under her shoulder blades, arranging her head so it was against his chest. She was cold, he observed as he slowly and painfully stood back up and turned his back to his companions.

"Let's go home."

*The Death Room*

A huge party had erupted in the Death room. Lord Death was situated in the center of the room, fashioning a party hat, Spirit doing his usual flirting with the witches next to him. The rest of Spartoi team that wasn't at war with Asura had formed a conga line with Sid, Nygus, and Blair.

Everyone was completely oblivious to the tragedies of the evening.

Killik was laughing at Thunder and Fire as they danced in little circles, Ox still trying to proclaim his love to his "dear Kim" with Harver, who had allowed a small smile to grace his normally cold and serious face, by his side.

Kim kept pushing Ox away, cheeks tinged with slight pink, as Jackie could not giggling beside her. A loud cry erupted as Spirit popped open a bottle of wine before situating himself between Blair, Lisa and Arisa.

They were still celebrating as they heard footsteps coming from the guillotine passageway and all turned to see Stein rounding the corner, looking bloody and disheveled with the rest of the group behind him.

Spirit caught sight of Stein and ran to him with the biggest smile on his face.

"Good work, buddy!" he laughed.

Stein simply cleared his throat and avoided eye contact with Spirit. How could he tell Spirit that his beloved daughter had been killed?

"YO! How's everybody doing? Good job today, kids! I'm so proud of you!" cheered Lord Death. However Lord Death noticed that everyone wore grim faces.

"What's going on? Why is everyone so sad? You defeated Asura, right? What's not to celebrate?" Lord Death questioned.

And that's when Soul finally entered the room, looking the most shattered out of everyone.

Silence rang through the air as everyones gazes settled on the broken weapon, and more importantly, the body he carried in his arms.

They all looked at Soul, whose face was completely empty as he looked down at the ash blonde he was holding, eye's holding no emotion whatsoever. There was just...nothingness.

Spirit broke the silence by taking a step backwards, his heel making a clattering sound with the tile, eyes frightened.

"Maka...?"

She didn't respond, and Tsubaki, Liz and Patty clutched at each other's hands, the tears starting again with the knowledge that she never would respond to anyone ever again. Everyone in the group who had fought the battle looked away from the red haired man. They couldn't bear to watch as Maka's overprotective, loving father broke down, while everyone else in the room suddenly understood what had happened. It hit them like a ton of bricks.

Maka was gone.

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><p><strong>LE GASP! WE TOTALLY KILLED SOMEONE IMPORTANT! <strong>

Next chapter will be cheesy. so don't be too sad.

REVIEW PLEASE. :)


	6. Your life is Precious

OMG WE HAVE CHAPTER 6 LADIES AND GENTS! :D

Lemon and Kiwi are so freaking proud of this brain child.

Lemon had a day off today, so she spent 6 hours hammering out some sort of plot for this. Kiwi added in some very important inserts as well. 3

Quite the team, we are.

ANYWAYS,

**REVIEW, OR WE'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL! **

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><p>Every happy memory he had of Maka was flashing before his eyes.<p>

When they first met, and she had been the first to actually enjoy the music he played. He had developed a respect for her then; a sense of belonging. That was when he felt as though he could completely leave his home, his family, and his name behind him and start a new life, with this girl as his meister. He would protect her, because she was the only one who could sense and understand the sadness he had locked away in his heart.

There was the time that they had bought their apartment. It was a simple little place, perfect number of rooms allowing each other their privacy, but still able to get to know each other better by living together. He remembered when it was his turn to cook dinner and he insisted that he could cook, but wound up burning the water. She cooked from then on. Not that he minded. Her cooking was always delicious.

He remembered when they first met Blair, and he had been forced to trick Maka into thinking that he no longer wished to be her partner. It broke his heart when he thought of hurting her like that, because he knew that was a sensitive topic for her. But in the end it worked out and brought them closer.

Then there was the incident with Crona. That was when he realized that not only would he protect her, but he would _die_for her. It didn't matter that she thought he was reckless; he would do it again in a heartbeat if need be. Because he no longer just respected her. He loved her.

And there was the time when they took a nap together on their living room couch. It had been right after being released from the school infirmary and he was still having those nightmares. He wasn't sleeping very well. He was sitting on the couch watching TV with her and she leaned against him. He began to hear her soft snores and was immediately comforted by her presence, and drifted off into his own comfortable slumber.

Then there was the time when she destroyed Arachne and turned him into a Death Scythe, proving their hard work and loyalty to one another.

He remembered in the Book of Eibon, how he had looked exactly like her while in the Lust chapter. He remembered that she pretended not to notice, but he could tell that she had realized something. That was when she knew he had feelings of more than just friendship toward her.

He remembered Moscow, which was truthfully not that long ago, when he had accidentally slipped into the grasp of the Madness. He remembered keeping his cool because he had the instinct not to hurt her.

And now, as her cold, lifeless body lay heavily in his arms, everything was shattered. All those memories of being with her were now torn to shreds because she was gone.

He was ripped from his thoughts when he felt someone lifting Maka out of his arms. It was the tearful and devastated face of Spirit. Soul let Spirit take her from him, mainly because the stabs of pain in his shoulder and the pounding dizziness in his head told him he could no longer support her.

He silently stumbled over to the wall, leaned his back heavily against it, and slid down until he was sitting, leaving a long trail of red on the wall where his bleeding shoulder swiped down.

He noticed that it felt like someone had stuffed cotton into his ears, because the wails coming from Spirit and everything Lord Death was saying sounded fuzzy.

_'It must be from all of the blood loss…'_he thought. He lowered his chin to his chest and closed his eyes, suddenly feeling extremely exhausted.

Someone…no…a few people were yelling something that Soul couldn't understand. He noticed that Spirit had stopped crying. He opened his eyes, and through his dizzied haze, he could make out that Kim, Jackie, the witches and Blair were all talking about something that apparently excited everyone.

His eyelids again felt too heavy at that moment, though. He closed his eyes and fell into a light slumber, allowing all of the grim happenings of the day slip into darkness. He just wanted to sleep; he just wanted to forget.

That was when he felt careful hands begin to take off his coat, then his tie, and then start unbuttoning his shirt. He opened his eyes and tried to focus. It was Nygus. He gave her a confused and slightly annoyed look. What the hell was she doing?

"I'm dressing your wounds. You've lost too much blood already, and I'm not about to lose another student." She explained.

"I don't care. Just let me die. I have nothing left to live for…" he mumbled.

"Enough of that. Besides, I wouldn't give up hope just yet." She said softly while she removed his bloody shirt.

He just stared back at her, a half-lidded and confused expression on his face. She began to disinfect the wound, causing Soul to grit his teeth and wince in pain. Once that was done, she began bandaging.

"The witches think they know a spell that could revive Maka." She said quietly. She tied off the bandages around his shoulder and upper torso and began to bandage his forearms.

"…What?" He asked dumbly. _'So…she can be saved?' _His heart gave a hopeful flutter.

"Yes. Kim said something about a revival spell, which all of the witches remembered. They're just about to start. The only thing is, they need you to resonate with her, or her soul won't be able to return to her body," She explained as she finished bandaging his forearms. "You do have her soul, right?" She asked.

"Of course." He grabbed his coat and gently took her soul out of his pocket.

He stood, wobbling slightly from dizziness, and walked over to where Maka was now lying in the middle of a circle of witches. Kim had apparently already closed the wounds that had killed Maka, and was now looking up at Soul expectantly, a slight and encouraging smile on her face.

Soul nodded and kneeled down beside Maka, taking her into his arms and laying her soul on her chest.

"Ready!" He heard the witches say as he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Soul resonance." He whispered as the witches began chanting.

Maka's soul began to flutter its wings and sink into her chest. Soul was doing everything he could not to lose consciousness now; his tired and aching body was screaming for rest.

Then something happened. He could feel a light beating under the palm that was lying on her chest. He opened his eyes to look down at her, amazement etched on his face. He stopped resonating when Stein ran over to check her pulse.

"Her heart is beating, but she's not breathing." He noted.

That's when Blair perked up and walked over to Maka, an expression of determination on her face.

"Excuse me." She said sternly to Stein, who gave her a suspicious stare, but moved out of the way.

Soul shifted out of the way and laid Maka's body back down as the cat sauntered up. Blair glared down at Maka, and then punched her directly in the stomach.

Her eyes flew open as she doubled over, coughing the rest of the blood that was left in her trachea out of her system. Once she caught her breath, she wrapped her arms around her midsection before glaring up at the purple haired woman.

"WHAT THE FUCK BLAIR! THAT _HURT!" _she yelled at her before coughing again.

Everyone just stared in disbelief. Soul, who had the instinct to return a punch to Blair, stopped mid-swing and stared down at his meister. She was still coughing lightly and had curled in on herself, but she was indeed alive.

"Aww man! I think she may have re-open one of the wounds!" Kim complained loudly.

Maka opened her eyes again and saw Soul, looking so beat up and haggard but smiling lightly, and Blair, with a smug smile on her face. Maka gave Soul a lopsided grin, almost identical to his signature one, and said, "What's up, stranger?"

Soul stared at her in relief before sticking his hand out to help her up as he tried to look casual.

"Nothing much. Just the usual." He replied. She grinned briefly before gripping his hand thankfully; he hoisted her to her feet. She was unsteady at first, slightly dizzy and disoriented, but his hand reached out to grab her elbow before she fell over.

"Thanks, Soul." she gave a small smile to her partner, who let her go after righting her, fingers lingering on her skin a little longer than necessary. Maka barely had time to look around before she was ambushed with hugs from the three crying female weapons and her father. They gripped her small frame tightly as she felt their hot tears run down and splash onto her shoulders. After a few seconds of this she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Hey...um…guys?"

"Yes Maka?" Tsubaki hicupped as she spoke.

"You're kinda crushing me..."

"Oh!" they all quickly released the poor girl as breathing suddenly became easier again.

Taking a small step back, she looked around at all the tear-stained relieved faces that were filled with the joy in seeing her alive.

"Um..." she grew uneasy with everyone staring at her, "Is...everything...okay?"

Kidd, who was now also patched up by Nygus, blinked, slightly taken aback.

"What do you mean? Do you not remember what happened?" he inquired.

"Uh...no?" everybody gasped in surprise before Stein cleared his throat.

"Maka..." he began, taking a small step towards her, "are you sure you don't remember anything?"

"No. I...there was...Asura? And...I killed him right?" Stein nodded, "And then...I fell? And I-I..." her brow furrowed with concentration before her eyes became as wide as saucers and her mouth opened in surprise.

"HOLY SHIT, I WAS IMPALED."

Stein let out a sigh of relief. Seems her mind hadn't been damaged after all that time without oxygen. The witches' spell must really have fixed everything.

"Yes, Maka. You died." he stated bluntly. If it was possible, her eyes got even wider and her knees began to shake.

"I...I..I...WHA?" her knees gave out under her and she felt those same strong hands catch her yet again, lowering her gently to the floor. Soul crouched down beside her, putting a hand on her back as she took a deep breath in and let it out slowly; repeating the process a couple times before speaking again.

"Huh?" she asked unintelligently.

"You died, Maka," said Soul, quietly. His tone shocked Maka, and suddenly she remembered him holding her right before she died. She remembered talking to him. She remembered seeing him cry. She remembered him saying…

She shook her head, clearing it of all thoughts and looked up at everyone's worried expressions before putting on a brave smile.

"But, I killed the Kishin right? So, if I died, it wasn't all for nothing!" most of the room grimaced at her statement. Of course Maka would be more concerned about if they had won the battle or not.

Soul chuckled lightly, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But everyone probably would've preferred if you killed the kishin _and_stayed alive..."

She grunted at his sarcasm and felt the urge to Maka-chop him one, but her stomach was throbbing in pain. "Crap, I think Blair _did_re-open one of my wounds…" she mumbled.

Soul's eyes widened and Nygus rushed over. "Kim is too tired to heal this with her magic now. Reviving you took a lot out of her," She said, "So we should probably take you to the infirmary." Spirit was at her side immediately to carry his little girl to the infirmary.

"Papaaaaa…I can walk there by myself…" Maka whined. But Spirit would have none of that.

"Oh really? Can you? I'm taking any more chances, Maka. I thought I lost you for good, this time." Spirit said sternly.

Maka was immediately silenced by his words. Guilt seemed into her heart and she lowered her eyes sadly and rested her head on his chest.

"I'm sorry, Papa…" She said quietly.

"No, sweetheart, I'm sorry. For everything." He said sadly, guilt dripping from his words.

Maka looked up at his face, tears brimming her eyes.

Soul stood as they began walking toward the infirmary. He would let them be alone for a while. He knew that they were having a mending conversation, and he was not about to interrupt.

He began to sway again, reminded of the fact that he was still wounded and missing a couple of gallons of blood. Black Star took one of Soul's arms and slung in over one of his, while wrapping another arm around his back to keep him steady.

"We better get you to the infirmary to rest as well, buddy." Said Black Star, smirking.

"Thanks, man." Chuckled Soul as they too began to walk to the infirmary.

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><p>Later, Soul woke to find that it was completely dark out. He had no idea what time it was. However, he did notice that one of the windows leading out to the balcony was open. Maka was nowhere to be seen.<p>

Trying to calm his slightly panicked mind, Soul sat up and walked over to the window.

There stood Maka, her torso completely bandaged, staring up at the moon. Soul tried not to blush at the fact that his meister was currently topless, but his cheeks were still stained a rosy pink. He blamed it on the slightly chilly night air.

He cleared his throat before speaking, announcing to her his presence, "What are you doing out of bed, stupid? You should be resting." He asked with a hint of concern.

She turned to look at him; smiling sweetly before replying, "I could ask you the same question."

"I did rest. Quite well, actually. You were awake when I got to the infirmary. You were crying and hugging your dad," he stated, "What happened, because I seemed to have missed something." He asked softly.

She reached out and gently grabbed his hand, bringing him to watch the moon with her.

"He apologized for everything that happened between him and my mom. I normally wouldn't believe it, but I realized that I don't want to die without patching things up with my father, first." She said with a sad smile.

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><p>"<em>I'm so sorry that I put your mother through all of that trouble, and I'm sorry for not always being there for you," he began "I know I've done some terrible things in the past. Things your mother will never forgive me for. But you have to know something. I was stupid and thought that I could have anyone in the world. Now that I've lost your mother and you, I don't want anyone else. Sure the girls are pretty and it's fun to humor them, but I love you and your mother more than anything in the world. <em>

_"When Soul came into the death room today, holding your body, that's when I realized I had officially lost everything. I had nothing left to live for. Every little moment of your life, from the moment you were born to the moment you moved out of my house and into your apartment with Soul, flashed before my eyes. I remembered reading to you as a baby; I remembered all the fun times we spent together when you were little. I lost it all. I know you hate me, Maka, and you probably always will, but you have to know that if you're not in my life, even just a little bit, I have nothing anymore." _

_Maka had tears streaming down her face as she watched her father tell her everything that he needed to say. _

_They had reached to infirmary now, and Spirit gently set her down and Maka immediately took her father into a bone-crushing hug. She was bawling now, because she knew that she could never hate her father again. _

_"You know, you've got yourself one extraordinary partner." He said as he kissed the top of her head with a smile._

_She gave him a look of confusion._

_"He loves you so much, it's unbelievable you two aren't together yet." He continued._

_Maka gaped. "Wh-wh-what? Where did that come from?" she shrieked._

_Spirit laughed at his frantic daughter, "When he carried you in, I don't think I've ever seen someone look so depressed before. Everyone realized then that he actually loved you. Not just loved you but was in love with you." _

_Maka's expression softened and she smiled sweetly. "You know I feel the same way, right?" she admitted quietly._

_Spirit only gave his daughter a loving smile and nodded. _

_Tears began falling down her face again and she hugged him again, more tightly this time._

_Nygus decided to walk in at this moment, and not far behind was Black Star with a Soul over his shoulder._

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><p>He watched her face for a brief moment before turning his gaze up to the moon. A comfortable silence settled between them until Soul spoke again.<p>

"I'm happy you forgave your dad," he said, a look of sadness creeping onto his face, "at least that makes one of us…"

Maka frowned, turning her head towards him her loose blonde hair whipping around her face in the slight breeze. "I'm sure you'll mend broken relationships with your family too, someday." She assured.

"Maybe," he shrugged, "or, you know, I'll die before I get the chance." He said nonchalantly, "They'd probably be relieved."

Maka stayed silent and listened. She knew nothing of what happened between Soul and his family, and she wasn't sure if she should ask or not.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was going to ask.

"Do you mind me asking about what happened?" She asked carefully, "I mean, you never told me what happened, and I didn't want to pester, but…" She stopped when she heard him sigh.

"Well, you know that I'm born into a wealthy family of musicians," he said, not looking at her, "and my parents always had such high expectations for my brother and I."

She watched him carefully now, taking in every word he said.

"My older brother, Wes, has always set such a high bar," his voice began to deepen, taking on a darker tone, "and I was never able to catch up."

She watched sadly as his face took an expression of extreme dislike and contempt. She laid one of her hands on top of his and he took hold of it.

"That's what I saw." He said next, his face now taking a more bored expression.

"What?" she asked. What was he talking about?

"In the envy chapter in Eibon," he explained. "I saw my brother."

'_Ohhhhh.'_She thought. She noticed in that chapter that he had been rather quiet and bothered by something, but didn't ask because that chapter bothered her too.

"What did he say that bothered you so much?" she dared to ask.

Soul looked back up to the moon and sighed again. "He said that I was running away from everything. From home, from music, from him. He asked if when I'm with you, who knows nothing about music or my family, I could relax and not be jealous of him. He asked if that's the only reason I was partnered with you. I told him 'no.'"

Maka watched him as he confessed almost everything that had bothered him for so long.

"And I was always a disappointment to my parents. I could never play anything on the piano that they liked. Everything I played was too dark; they never realized that was how I felt. Everyday I felt smothered with discouraging words and I don't think there was ever a time where I didn't feel like a failure. The day I discovered I was a weapon was the greatest day of my life, because I had finally found some kind of excuse to leave that place."

He finally looked at her. She didn't need him to say it out loud. Looking at him, she realized then that she was the escape, and his only reason to feel happy again. And as he looked at her, her sparkling green eyes, wind blown hair and glowing face illuminated only by the moon and the faint light from indoors, one thought ran through his mind.

She's alive.

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><p>:3 Yaaaaaaaay.<p>

**REVIEWS PLEASE**


	7. Epilogue: Stay With Me

And here is the Epilogue! Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story since the beginning. You guys are winners. Everyone else who is still reading this, you get cookies. Just for showing up. Actually, everyone gets cake. CAKE EVERYWHERE.

Thanks again, guys. Lemon and Kiwi love you to bits :)

**REVIEW PLEASE**

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><p>"OW! Jeez, watch it, that HURTS!" Maka complained as Soul helped her up the stairs to their apartment. They were finally coming home today, after about a week of staying in the academy hospital. They probably could have come home sooner, however, they had an assumption that Stein kept coming up with reasons for them to stay so he could run more tests and experiments on them.<p>

"Sorry! Jeesh, stop shouting. You'll make me go deaf woman." Soul countered as they came up to their door. He took the arm he had around Maka's waist and stuck it into his pocket, searching for the keys. They had forced him to wear a sling for his wounded shoulder, to prevent him from moving it too much, however he was still a little better off than his meister. Maka leaned against the wall beside the door, trying to catch her breath. Being impaled had done a number on her, and even though she had done nothing but sleep and eat for the past week, she was still exhausted.

Soul fished the keys out but they caught on the lip of his pocket, falling down to the floor. Maka instinctively bent down to reach for them and immediately regretted it as her stitches pulled. She groaned as Soul opened the door and wrapped his good arm back around her waist.

"Idiot." he muttered, "you need to stop doing stupid things like that."

Maka glared sideways at him for a moment then sighed. It was hard to stay mad at him nowadays, considering he spent every waking minute by her bedside while she was in the infirmary, even though he probably should have had more rest than her. They walked into the apartment, Soul steering her towards the couch.

She plopped down, wincing slightly as her stitches pulled again.

"You want anything to drink? Hungry? Maybe need to sleep again?" Soul stood in front of her, arm shoved into his pocket. She gave him a small smile.

"I'm okay, thanks. I should really be asking you that." The dark circles under his eyes were obvious. He was tired, and it wasn't surprising considering he was trying to take care of her from the first thing in the morning to the last moment at night.

"Nah, I'm okay." he sat down in the armchair opposite her.

"Pfft, okay my ass. You look like you haven't slept in weeks. What's wrong? Something's on your mind, I can tell."

He shifted uncomfortably, eyes moving to look away from her.

"No...It's nothing." he mumbled.

"Soul." he looked back at her. Stern green eyes stared into his troubled crimson ones. "Tell me what's wrong."

Her eyes broke down everything he had been trying to keep in since the moment she'd been revived.

"I-It's just that-I-I..." he stuttered, his voice breaking slightly. Her hand reached out to lie on his arm. Calming him slightly.

"Take a breath. Slowly now, okay? Talk to me."

He breathed in deeply before looking back and meeting her gaze.

"I was...Scared." he confessed. "Terrified actually. More scared than I had ever been in my entire life."

Maka just gave him a concerned look, asking him without words to continue. He took another breath and moved to sit beside her on the couch. She shifted to face him and he absentmindedly grabbed her hand.

"I thought...I thought I'd lost you." he said softly, "that you were gone forever. And I was scared that I'd never get to see you smile, or hear your laugh or even get hit by you again. That...That terrified me. And I..I just-" his voice was breaking again and Maka put a hand over his mouth to silence him.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said strongly, moving her hand off his mouth to catch his in hers again. "I'm staying right here. With you. Understood?"

He nodded gravely and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight to him. He felt her tense for a second, then relax and her arms made their way around him as well.

"I'm sorry I scared you." she said softly.

"Don't you EVER do that to me again alright?" he growled in her ear.

She smiled, hugging him tighter for a moment before breaking away.

"Y'know, I did hear some things while I was dying..." she gave him a sly, knowing glance. He stiffened, understanding exactly what she was talking about. His confession that was sobbed into her hair right before her soul floated out of her body.

"Maka...I can explain...You see what happened was jus- mmph!" his sentence was cut off as her hand slapped over his mouth again.

"Would you just shut up for one second?" he nodded, eyes wide as she removed her hand. She breathed out a sigh, closing her eyes.

"Me too." she said, pinching the bridge of her nose while still keeping her eyes closed. "I...Feel the same way." As soon as she had said it, her chest felt infinitely lighter. Letting out a shaky laugh, she looked up to him and smiled. He looked shell shocked, completely taken aback by what she just told him.

Her smile faltered a bit as he remained silent, just staring at her. Eventually, she couldn't look at him anymore, so she just brought her gaze down to her lap.

"Hey..." he said finally, tilting her chin up so she would look at him again. He brought his face closer to hers until they were inches apart. Her breathing hitched from the close proximity and he kept her face trapped in his hands.

"You don't know how long I've waited to hear that." his breath tickled her lips as he moved forward those last couple inches to close the gap that separated them.  
>Their lips gently touched and soon all space between them was nonexistent; her hands tangling in his hair and his moving down to her lower back when-<p>

The door suddenly flew open.

"MAKA! I HEARD YOU WERE COMING HOME TODAY SO I CAME TO GRACE YOU WITH MY GODLY PRES – Whoa .." Black Star stood in the doorway shocked at what he had caught them doing. Down the stairs you could hear Tsubaki calling for him as well as Kid freaking out about something asymmetrical while Liz attempted to calm him down and Patty in hysterics.

Black Star blinked a couple times before slowly backing out of the doorway.

"Uh...I'll just…Come back...Uh...Later..." spinning on his heel leaving Maka and Soul gaping at the broken door hanging on his hinges as they heard him yell at the others.

"HEY GUYS! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!"

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><p>A figure stood perched on the roof of a building looking down at the menace that cowered on the streets of Death City. The pre-Kishin sharpened its claws against the bricks of the wall it was standing beside while staring down the scythe wielding person whose tailcoat billowed out behind them in the light breeze.<p>

"Serial Killer, Daemon, murdering people and taking their souls is forbidden." The figures' voice rang through the air and the demon below snarled.

Ash blond hair blew as the wind picked up and the moons' glowing grin illuminated determined green eyes.

"I'll be taking your soul."

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><p>THE END! TA DA! :D Hope you loved it!<p>

Thanks again guys! **AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**


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